Quotables

Quotables

We can expect a fast and furious first 100 days as the Clintonistas dismantle 4,380 days of Ronald Reagan and George Bush in order to deal with the domestic dump they will say they inherited. Bill Clinton will want to concentrate on the country, but foreign problems have a way of barging in even when new, inexperienced presidents would rather look homeward.

THE FACT OF THE MATTER. Robert Douglas, columnist with The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post:

Journalists are constrained by legal and ethical imperatives that limit them to reporting as fact only that which can be documented or attributed. Even when they know their research is incomplete or they suspect their sources are lying.

Purveyors of fiction, on the other hand, have license to combine what they know is factual with logical assumptions to create scenarios that may not be verifiable but nevertheless are credible. And often more satisfying than non-fiction accounts that raise more questions than they answer. No wonder Americans are reading more books at a time when newspapers are struggling to maintain an audience.

PARTIES TO A FLAWED SYSTEM. Joe Klein, in Newsweek:

Disgust with the sleazy, petty tone of politics as usual also fueled ... the rise of a radical middle, people who saw the two political parties as anachronistic, collusive bundlings of special interests. The Republicans were country clubbers and religious fanatics; the Democrats were minorities, lifestyle liberals and government employees. The two parties ranted against each other for political effect, but got together when it really mattered - to raise their pay, paper over the S&L mess and make budget deals that ignored the deficit.

REVIVING THE GOP. Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum, R-Kans.:

Are the political parties still relevant? The answer in the Nov. 3 election was not reassuring. Not only did a man with no party win 19 percent of the popular vote, in many races from the top on down it was difficult to tell what either party stood for. It seems to me that a strong two-party system is important, and the Republican Party must reinvent itself in order to recapture the allegiance of the voters.

FAIR WORK. George McGovern, president of the Middle East Policy Council and the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee:

For many employees, an entry-level job is the only opportunity to learn about the workplace. Poor language skills, illiteracy and the inability to show up for work regularly keep many people from advancing beyond a basic wage. Yet, some of these entry-level jobs may be the only work that is available to keep someone from total welfare dependency.

NO COMPARISON. Chalmers M. Roberts, former diplomatic reporter for The Washington Post:

To us survivors of the Great Depression the current economic recession looks comparatively mild. For example, unemployment in 1932 is officially recorded at 23.6 percent of the work force, although that figure was unreliable and in fact probably an understatement. Today's figure is 7.6 percent, but that, too, isn't fully reflective of the fears of a big slice of the work force. Then there were Hooverville shacks; today there are no Bushvilles.